Nawalpur नवलपुर

Nawalpur bridges the Gandaki Terai and the first hill ridges of the Mahabharat range, with its headquarters at Kawasoti strung along the Mahendra Highway roughly 85 kilometres east of Butwal. Its signature pilgrimage site is Devghat, where the Trishuli and Kali Gandaki merge into the Narayani at a forest of ashrams; the site fills with tens of thousands of devotees at Makar Sankranti in January. The Barandabhar Corridor Forest, which threads through the district's southern edge, is the only remaining forest link between Chitwan National Park and the Chure and Mahabharat foothills, providing movement cover for tigers, Asian elephants and rhinos.

Nawalpur was carved from the old Nawalparasi district in 2015 and is still finding its administrative footing, but its Terai-edge setting gives it a warmer, flatter character than most of Gandaki Province. Tharu and Brahmin-Chhetri communities mix across the rice and mustard plains. For travellers, the district is most easily visited as a stop between Chitwan and Pokhara; Devghat is a 20-minute drive from the highway and repays a short visit even outside the Makar Sankranti pilgrimage season.